Sensex, Nifty climb 1.7% amid firm global cues: Key factors driving the rally - Moneycontrol

Indian markets gained for the second session led by gains in Reliance Industries Ltd and banking and IT stocks. Investors are keenly awaiting the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) bimonthly monetary policy. At 14.15 pm, the benchmark Sensex was 1.73 percent or 1003 points higher at 58,963 while the Nifty gained 1.65 percent or 281 points to 17,362 points. The banking crisis in the US and Europe led to a decline in global and Indian equities. Additionally, Indian markets have been adversely affected by continued selling by foreign investors and potential weak earnings as a result of adverse weather conditions, including the possibility of an El Nino event impacting the southwest monsoon, which could have a significant impact on inflation. Here's a list of key factors behind the today's market rally RBI policy meeting next week: Attention is focused on the RBI's policy meeting next week, where many economists predict a 25-basis point rate hike. Kotak Institutional Equities suggests that the central bank will adopt a more balanced approach to managing inflation, considering the challenges posed by global financial markets and various macro factors. According to the brokerage, prematurely pausing current policies could create confusion regarding inflation pressures and financial sector risks. The RBI is scheduled to review the rates on April 6. As per a Moneycontrol survey, 20 out of 36 respondents anticipate that the central bank will continue with its withdrawal of an accommodative stance, while the remaining 16 predict a shift to a neutral stance. Improvement in current account deficit: Going by the latest reports, many economists expect India's current account to improve in fiscal year 2024 led by an incrementally narrowing trade deficit amid receding commodity prices, especially that of oil.  "Also, solid services trade surplus will strongly offset CAD (current account deficit), which will now likely print sub $100 billion in FY23E ($90 billion vs our earlier forecast of $107 billion)... For FY24E, lower prices of oil (avg. estimate: $90/bbl) and commodities, along with easing domestic/global demand, may lead to CAD/GDP lowering to ~2.2% vs our earlier est. of 2.6% (USD82bn vs USD97bn earlier)", Emkay Research said in its latest report. RBI Bulletin: The March edition of the RBI Bulletin gave an optimistic outlook on growth, suggesting that the current estimates for India's GDP growth in FY24 of between 6 and 6.5 percent may be exceeded. According to the report, India is expected to maintain the pace of expansion achieved in 2022-23, indicating that the country's growth trajectory is unlikely to slow down. US Fed: The US economy seems to be worsening, as suggested by the latest GDP figures with the print coming in at 2.6 percent for the final quarter of last year, slightly below the 2.7 percent predicted by analysts. Due to the overhang of the banking crisis, financial specialists predict that the credit markets in the US will remain under pressure, and there is a risk of the economy slipping into a recession. In light of this, the US Federal Reserve may decide against raising interest rates further and may even introduce multiple rate cuts later in 2023. Investors are now closely monitoring the release of core personal consumption expenditure data, set to be released later on Friday. These data releases are crucial in providing investors with insight into the Federal Reserve's probable future actions.

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Sensex, Nifty climb 1.7% amid firm global cues: Key factors driving the rally - Moneycontrol
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Va Tech Wabag bags ₹4,400-crore desal order from Chennai Metro Water - BusinessLine

Va Tech Wabag, a water technology company, has bagged a design, build, operate (DBO) order from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) for building 400 million litres per day (MLD) sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant at a total cost of about ₹4,400 crore.

The project has been funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and seeks to improve Chennai’s water security through a stable source of drinking water in the form of desalination.

The project will be executed by WABAG in a joint venture with Metito Overseas Ltd. Once completed, the project will be the largest desalination plant in the South East Asian Region.

Also read: Tamil Nadu unveils Ethanol Blending Policy 2023

The contract includes design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing, and commissioning of the 400 MLD SWRO desalination plant and the associated sea water intake system over 42 months followed by 20 years of operation & maintenance (O&M), according to a statement.

The desalination process will include lamella clarifiers, a dissolved air flotation system, and gravity dual media filters followed by reverse osmosis and re-mineralisation to produce clean drinking water which will be further distributed by CMWSSB to the residents of South Chennai.

Shailesh Kumar, CEO–India Cluster said: “This is the largest ever order for Wabag.”

Wabag has been associated with CMWSSB for over two decades. The company has won this order against global competition reinforcing our technological superiority and competitiveness in the global desalination space. This is a testament to our leadership in the global desalination space and puts Wabag on an inclined growth path for the future, he added.

The project makes Chennai “Desalination Capital of India” with a production of about 750 MLD of desalinated water along the coast of Chennai.

Also read: Tamil Nadu announces M-sand policy 2023

With the 400 MLD SWRO desalination plant, Wabag will be responsible for about 70 per cent of the water production through desalination units in Chennai.

“Va Tech Wabag is the largest water treatment company in India and has completed over 1,400 projects since 1995. The company has an annual revenue base of ₹2,500 crore-₹3500 crore and executes highly-complex large projects. It is also present in multiple countries and its order book is fairly diversified with India and the rest of the world contributing around 50 per cent each,” said India Ratings. in a recent report.

The company’s plants across the world produce over 2,500 MLD of tertiary-treated water and it carried a total order book size of more than ₹10,00 crore, including framework contracts as of December 2022 quarter.

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Published on March 31, 2023

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Reliance Industries’ creditors, shareholders to meet on May 02 on demerger of financial services business - BusinessLine

Reliance Industries Ltd has initiated the process to demerge its financial services business by calling for a meeting of creditors and shareholders. According to the company, its shareholders will get one share in the new demerged entity for every share held in RIL.

The secured and unsecured creditors and the shareholders of the company will be meeting on May 02 to approve the scheme of demerger.

After the demerger, the shares of Reliance Strategic Investments, which will be renamed Jio Financial Services, will be listed on the NSE and BSE, the company said in an exchange filing.

The approval of the board for the demerger came in October last year when the company announced that Reliance Strategic Investments would be renamed Jio Financial Services and KV Kamath would be the non-executive chairman of the new company.

The financial services business of the company consists of Reliance Retail Finance, Reliance Payment Solutions, Jio Information Aggregator Services and Reliance Retail Insurance Broking to Reliance Strategic Investments and Jio Payments Bank, and Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, the investment arm of RIL.

RIL said that transfer of its investment in Jio Payments Bank, will be under Reserve Bank of India regulations.

Also read: Reliance sets sights on insurance business

On the spinning off of its financial services business into a separate entity, RIL said, “Further growth and expansion of the financial services business would require differentiated strategy aligned to its industry-specific risks, market dynamics, and growth trajectory.

The demerger would help the financial services entity attract different sets of investors, strategic partners, lenders and other stakeholders having a specific interest in the financial services business.

As a separate entity, it would have higher leverage and also unlock value for shareholders of Reliance Industries.

In 2021-22, the financial services business of RIL and that of Reliance Strategic Investments reported a combined revenue of ₹1,535.6 crore, while the combined asset base was ₹27,964 crore.

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Published on March 30, 2023

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IPO fundraising halves to ₹52,116 crore in FY23, 37 firms go public | Mint - Mint

The fiscal year FY23 witnessed a lacklustre flow of initial public offerings (IPO) with 37 companies raising upto ₹52,116 crore through the main board. The latest fundraising halved compared to the all-time high performance of ₹1,11,547 crore in FY22. The largest life insurer in India, LIC's IPO accounted for around 39% of the total fundraising in FY23. Nevertheless, FY23 fundraising in FY23 is still the third highest ever in the IPO market.

It needs to be noted that, the number of companies that launched their IPOs was lower in FY23 compared to 53 IPOs in FY22.

Without LIC's ₹20,557 crore IPO, the overall fundraising could have been merely ₹31,559 crore in FY23 --- nearly 72% lower from FY22.

LIC is the largest IPO of FY23, and not just that it is the largest public offer ever in the history of this market.

According to Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database Group, ₹20,557 crore or a huge 39 per cent of the amount raised in 2022-23 was by LIC alone, without which the IPO fundraising would have been just ₹31,559 crore. To be sure though, the amount raised in 2022-23 is still the third highest ever in terms of IPO fund raise.

LIC's IPO was followed by Delhivery ( ₹5,235 crore) and Global Health ( ₹2,206 crore), as per Prime Database report.

The average deal size in IPOs was a high of ₹1,409 crore.

Haldea further mentioned that as many as 25 out of the 37 IPOs came in just 3 months of the year (May, November and December), which shows the volatile conditions prevalent through most of the year which are not conducive for IPO activity. In fact, the fourth quarter of 2022-23 has seen the lowest amount being raised in the last 9 years.

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Unacademy to cut 12% jobs in fresh round of layoffs: Report | Mint - Mint

SoftBank-backed edtech unicorn Unacademy to cut 12 percent of its workforce, Economic Times has reported citing an internal memo sent by CEO Gaurav Munjal. This will be the fourth round of layoffs announced by the edtech startup. 

“We have taken every step in the right direction to make our core business profitable, yet it’s not enough. We have to go further, we have to go deeper. Unfortunately, this has led me to take another difficult decision. We will be reducing the size of our team by 12% to ensure that we can meet the goals we are chasing in the current realities we are facing," note from Munjal as viewed by ET has stated. 

Mint could not independently verify these comments.

In addition to the newly announced cuts, the startup last year had laid off over 1,500 employees. In November 2022, the company had fired 10 percent of its workforce or about 350 employees in third such round of layoffs within a year.

Prior to that, in April 2022, the company let go of around 600 to 800 employees from its sales and marketing team, along with a few contractual staff and educators or tutors. Then later in June 2022, the startup fired 150 employees after performance improvement plan.

(This is a developing story)

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Sebi allows PE funds to become MF sponsors; enhances role, accountability of trustee - The Economic Times

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday decided to allow private equity funds to sponsor a mutual fund house as they can bring in strategic guidance and talent to fuel the industry growth. The decision comes in the backdrop of IDFC Mutual Fund getting acquired by a consortium comprising Bandhan Financial Holdings Ltd, Sovereign Wealth Fund GIC and private equity fund ChrysCapital.

In addition, the board of Sebi has decided to permit "Self Sponsored AMCs" to continue the mutual fund business. This is subject to asset management companies (AMCs) fulfilling certain conditions. The move would give the original sponsor flexibility to voluntarily disassociate itself from the MF without needing to induct a new and eligible sponsor.

Also, Sebi has cleared a proposal to constitute a unit holder protection committee (UHPC) by the board of an AMC. This is part of Sebi's attempt to have an independent review mechanism for the decisions of AMC from the perspective of the unit holders' interest across all products and services.

Further, the markets regulator has approved a framework to enhance the role and accountability of the mutual fund trustees in a move to safeguard unitholders' interests.

The regulator has decided to set up Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF) in the form of an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) to act as a backstop facility for the purchase of investment-grade corporate debt securities during times of stress.
This is aimed at instilling confidence among the participants in the corporate bond market and generally enhancing secondary market liquidity.

CDMDF, based on a guarantee to be provided by National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (NCGTC), may raise funds for the purchase of corporate debt securities during the market dislocation, the regulator said in a press release after its board meeting.

Further, Sebi has decided to provide for the enablement of contributions by the specified debt-oriented mutual fund schemes and asset management companies of mutual funds towards building the initial corpus of the CDMDF.

"Access to the fund for selling securities during market dislocation shall be specified mutual fund schemes in proportion to the contribution made to the Fund at a mutual fund level," Sebi said.

The board also approved the framework for triggering CDMDF's asset purchases during market dislocation.

With regard to mutual fund sponsors, Sebi has decided to introduce an alternative set of eligibility criteria to enable private equity funds, which do not qualify based on the current requirement to act as sponsors of mutual funds and decided to further strengthen the existing eligibility requirements to ensure that only high-quality entities qualify.

At present, any entity that owns 40 per cent or more stake in a mutual fund is considered a sponsor.

In respect of clarity on the roles and responsibilities of trustees and the Board of AMCs, Sebi has cleared amendments in mutual fund rules to provide for the identification of specific areas as the core responsibilities of Trustees, which will require an independent evaluation and due diligence by Trustees.

Besides, areas of potential conflict of interest between the shareholders of the AMC and the unitholders of its schemes were highlighted.

"The amendment shall also explicitly make the Board of AMC responsible for protecting unitholders' interests, in addition to AMC stakeholders' interests," Sebi said.

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Stock Market Today: Sensex, Nifty Rebound Led By TCS, HDFC Twins, Adani Enterprises - BQ Prime

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NCLAT upholds Rs 1,338-crore penalty imposed on Google by CCI - Economic Times

In a major setback to Google, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has upheld the fine of Rs 1,338 crore imposed on the search giant by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), saying the competition watchdog’s order did not violate the principles of natural justice.

Last month, Google submitted before the NCLAT that there had been an “unfair imposition” by the CCI on its mobile app distribution agreement with device makers, as it did not restrict the device makers from installing other apps, including those of rivals.

While refusing to stay the NCLAT order of January 4, the Supreme Court had on January 19 asked the appellate tribunal to decide Google’s appeal by March 31. The apex court had also refused to grant a stay on the 10 non-monetary directions issued by the CCI in its October 20 ruling last year.

The NCLAT, an appellate authority for orders passed by the CCI, had started its hearing in the Android matter on February 15 following a directive by the Supreme Court.

While arguing the matter before the appellate tribunal, Google said that the pre-installation of its apps on devices through a Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) was not “unfair” as there was no restriction from installing other apps and enough space available for them.

Earlier, a separate NCLAT bench had on January 4 issued notice over Google's plea, directing it to pay 10 per cent of the Rs 1,337 crore penalty imposed by the CCI. It had declined to stay the CCI order and put the matter up for a final hearing on April 3, 2023.

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GoMechanic acquired by Delhi-based auto parts maker Lifelong Group - YourStory

Just two months after car servicing startup GoMechanic admitted to financial irregularities and received a notice to initiate insolvency proceedings, the company has found an unlikely buyer.

Delhi-based Lifelong India Pvt Ltd is acquiring GoMechanic as the majority shareholder under its Servizzy entity, Lifelong confirmed to YourStory in response to enquiries emailed Tuesday evening.

The deal is likely to provide some relief to the beleaguered car repair startup that has been facing a turbulent time lately.

“Acquisition of the GoMechanic business, aligns with our strategic vision of synergising the Lifelong Group’s proven expertise in the automotive industry. We are focused on building upon GoMechanic's business," a Lifelong spokesperson said.

Due to the recent financial difficulties at GoMechanic, the board and shareholders with support from Stride Ventures initiated a speedy and widely publicised sale process to ensure the continuity of business, the spokesperson added.

The Tiger Global Management- and Sequoia Capital India-backed firm, along with Lifelong India's Managing Director Atul Raheja, announced the development to employees on Monday in an event in Gurugram, according to two sources aware of the developments.

Most of GoMechanic's employees will be laid off, while a few are likely to be absorbed into Lifelong, these persons said.

GoMechanic did not reply to queries emailed on Tuesday.

The Morning Context reported earlier in March that used-car company CarTrade was in talks to buy GoMechanic and that GoMechanic had another buyer in the mix. Co-founder Amit Bhasin is reportedly looking for a sale price of up to Rs 250 crore, according to the report.

Business Today reported last week that the sale may be structured so CarTrade acquires a portion of GoMechanic’s assets, including its network of service stations and associated technologies, while other parts would be sold to another entity.

The details of the deal with Lifelong India are unclear. It is likely, however, that Lifelong India will take over GoMechanic's spare parts division to complement its own core area of business.

"Lifelong India has a long list of automotive clients including Hero, Exide, General Motors, and Magna. The only logical explanation to the deal is the synergy between the auto parts businesses of both companies," an investor in the mobility industry said, asking not to be named.

Established in 1985 by Atul Raheja, Lifelong India is a Delhi-based supplier of automotive components, plastics, and casting components, having a turnover of $10 million, according to its website.

The company has been looking to expand its footprint in the automotive service and repair industry.

In January, Bhasin admitted to financial misreporting in a LinkedIn post, stating that the company got carried away trying to solve problems in the car repair experience.

"Our passion to survive the intrinsic challenges of this sector, and manage capital, took the better of us and we made errors in judgment as we followed growth at all costs, including in regard to financial reporting, which we deeply regret. We take full responsibility for this current situation and unanimously have decided to restructure the business while we look for capital solutions," Bhasin had said.

YourStory had reported that the company had been raising funds from investors by misleading investors about its sales numbers and costs.

GoMechanic inflated its sales numbers and showed lesser expenses than it actually incurred in a pitch to SoftBank, which was interested in funding the startup, one of the sources had said. In its due diligence, SoftBank found inconsistencies and flagged those to the company's existing investors.

GoMechanic was later subject to forensic audit by Sequoia and a third party. Running out of money, it eventually let go of 70% of its workforce, with several of them being asked to resign.

The firm has also been served a notice by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to initiate bankruptcy proceedings, per a report by The Morning Context.

Founded in 2016, GoMechanic had last raised $42 million in a Series C round led by Tiger Global Management, with existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Orios Venture Partners and Chiratae Ventures also participating. The company had sought to be valued at about $500 million at the time, per media reports.

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UPI merchant transactions over Rs 2,000 to carry charge of 1.1% from Apr 1 - Business Standard

UPI volume cap deadline extended by 2 yrs in relief for PhonePe, Google Pay

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Too early to predict any damage to wheat crop because of heat stress: Govt

GitHub fires its entire India engineering team, over 140 employees hit

Centre clears IRDAI's new commission norms for insurance intermediaries

RIL, 10 other firms bag 39,600 MW solar capacity order under PLI scheme

Indian corporates likely to see 10%-12% capex growth in FY24: Fitch

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Russia says oil sales to India soared 22-fold last year - Al Jazeera English

Sales to India surged in 2022 as European buyers turned to other markets after the Ukraine war, Russian deputy PM says.

Russian oil sales to India surged more than 22-fold last year as European buyers turned to other markets following the conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s deputy prime minister has said.

“Most of our energy resources were redirected to other markets, to the markets of friendly countries,” Alexander Novak said in comments carried by Russian news agencies on Tuesday.

“If for example, we take oil supplies to India, they increased 22 times last year,” he said.

Russia shifted its oil exports to India and China last year as European Union nations sought to end their reliance on Russian energy supplies after Moscow sent troops into neighbouring Ukraine.

The EU imposed an embargo on seaborne Russian oil in December alongside a price cap on Russian crude that was agreed with the Group of Seven industrialised powers.

The shift has meant cheaper Russian energy imports for “friendly” countries, mainly China and India.

Novak said energy revenues accounted for 42 percent of Russia’s federal budget in 2022 and that the country’s energy industry was sustainable, despite the challenges faced by Western sanctions.

Novak, who is in charge of Russia’s energy sector, also noted that supplies to China were increasing as a “result of the great work that has been done in the industry”.

Russia, a major producer and key ally of the OPEC oil cartel, cut crude production by 500,000 barrels per day this month in response to the Western sanctions.

Novak announced last week that the output reduction, which amounts to 5 percent of daily production, would continue through June.

He said the move was part of a response to Western penalties targeting Russia’s oil industry that aim to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its military.

The International Energy Agency this month said Russia’s oil-export revenue sank by almost half in February compared with last year.

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Gautam Adani acquires 49% in Quintillion Business Media for Rs 48 crore - The Indian Express

Billionaire Gautam Adani’s AMG Media Networks has acquired about a 49 per cent stake in Raghav Bahl-curated digital business news platform Quintillion Business Media Pvt Ltd for about Rs 48 crore.

In a stock exchange filing, Adani Enterprises Ltd said its subsidiary AMG Media Networks Ltd has completed the acquisition which was originally announced in May last year.

The transaction was completed on March 27 for “Rs 47.84 crore”, it said.

Quintillion Business Media runs the news platform Bloomberg Quint, now called BQ Prime.

Adani group had set up AMG Media Networks for its foray into businesses of “publishing, advertising, broadcasting, distribution of content over different types of media networks”.

In May last year, it had signed a shareholders’ agreement with Quintillion Media Ltd (QML) and QBML.

In September 2021, it hired veteran journalist Sanjay Pugalia to lead its media company Adani Media Ventures.

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HDFC plans to raise Rs 57,000 crore through private placement ahead of merger with HDFC Bank - Moneycontrol

Ahead of the merger with HDFC Bank, the board of mortgage lending major Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has approved plans to raise another Rs 57,000 crore through the issue of Non-convertible Debentures (NCD). This will be done through multiple tranches, the company said in a release. This is the second major fundraising announced by HDFC in the last two months. On February 26, HDFC raised Rs 25,000 crore through bonds at 7.97 percent coupon rate. It was the country's largest-ever bond issue. HDFC-HDFC Bank merger is set to take effect by June-July after receiving the necessary approvals from various regulatory authorities. The merger was announced in April last year. “Increase in the overall borrowing powers of the Corporation from Rs. 6.00 lakh crore to Rs. 6.50 lakh crore, outstanding at any point of time and recommended the same for approval of the Members of the Corporation by way of postal ballot,” the company said in the release. Further, it said that the said decision was taken since the outstanding borrowings of the corporation as on date is approximately Rs 5.70 lakh crore and the Corporation would need to borrow further for its business purposes till the effective merger date. On March 17, the company said its board would consider raising funds through NCDs in tranches aggregating to Rs 57,000 crore. In April last year, HDFC said its board has approved the merger of its wholly-owned subsidiaries HDFC Investments Limited and HDFC Holdings Limited with HDFC Bank Limited. As part of the plan, HDFC will acquire a 41 percent stake in HDFC Bank through the transformational merger. On March 10, in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, HDFC Vice Chairman and CEO Keki Mistry said the merger of HDFC and HDFC Bank, expected to take effect in June-July, will lead to bigger growth opportunities for the combined entity.

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RBI likely to pause interest rate hike in April policy meet: SBI Research - ANI News

New Delhi [India], March 27 (ANI): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to pause their interest rate hike and the current 6.5 per cent repo rate could be the terminal rate for now, said SBI Research in its latest Ecowrap report.
The repo rate is the interest rate at which the RBI lends money to all commercial banks.
The next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for the first week of April 2023.
At the latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI in early February, it decided to raise the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent to keep inflation expectations anchored, break the persistence of core inflation, and strengthen the medium-term growth prospects.
Raising interest rates is a monetary policy instrument that typically helps suppress demand in the economy, thereby helping the inflation rate decline.
In early 2020 when Covid hit the world, the repo rate was 4 per cent.
"The (RBI's) stance could continue to be withdrawal of accommodation, even as liquidity is now in deficit mode. RBI can always keep the options open in June (monetary) policy," the SBI Research, authored by Group Chief Economic Adviser State Bank of India Soumya Kanti Ghosh, said.
The report asserted that the RBI has enough reasons to pause the repo rate hike in the April meeting.
"There are concerns of a material slowdown in the affordable housing loan market and financial stability concerns taking centre stage. While concerns on sticky core inflation is justified, it may be noted that average core inflation is at 5.8 per cent over the last decade and it is almost unlikely that core inflation could decline materially to 5.5 per cent and below as post-pandemic shifts in expenditure on health and education and the sticky component of transport inflation with fuel prices staying at elevated levels will act as the constraint. By this logic, RBI may then have to go for more rounds of rate hikes," it explained in the report.

Notably, retail inflation in India fell marginally but remained above RBI's 6 per cent upper tolerance band for the second straight month in February 2023, with the Consumer Price Index pegged at 6.44 per cent. In January, the retail inflation was 6.52 per cent.
India's retail inflation was above RBI's 6 per cent target for three consecutive quarters and had managed to fall back to the RBI's comfort zone only in November 2022. Under the flexible inflation targeting framework, the RBI is deemed to have failed in managing price rises if the CPI-based inflation is outside the 2-6 per cent range for three quarters in a row.
On India's inflation, the Ecowrap report forecast March and April to be 5.5-5.6 per cent and 4.7-4.8 per cent.
"Thus, the RBI will have a delicate balancing job of either looking forward to the June meeting with clear signs of inflation trending downwards or looking backwards at the Jan and Feb prints in April policy. Thus, it will be a delicate choice (for RBI)," the report said.
Not just India, US monetary policy committee too is on an interest hike spree in the fight against inflation.
The US monetary policy committee, seeking to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 per cent over the longer run, hiked the key interest rate by 25 basis points to over a 15-year high of 4.75-5.0 per cent at its latest two-day review meet last week. The latest hike was the same size as its previous rate increase in the February meeting and marked its ninth straight rate hike.
The hike comes amid the dilemma faced by its central bank on inflation targeting and on maintaining banking sector stability - the former is way above target and the latter is shaky after the recent collapse of a couple of banks and the contagion effect on others.
Meanwhile, consumer inflation in the US moderated in February to 6.0 per cent from 6.4 per cent the previous month, but the numbers are still way above the 2 per cent target. It was at 6.5 per cent in December, and 7.1 per cent the month before.
"Fed rate hikes could be smaller in magnitude, and one last in May policy of 25 bps," SBI Research said.
"The challenge is now to decouple from Fed. But the good thing is that a dovish Fed means soft dollar and thus lower depreciation risk for the Indian rupee in the short to medium term," it added. (ANI)

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Oyo tells employees it expects nearly Rs 800 crore adjusted EBITDA in FY24 - The Economic Times

Oyo founderRitesh Agarwal told employees in an internal town hall on Monday that it expects to clock adjusted EBITDA of nearly Rs 800 crore in the upcoming financial year 2024.

The company’s current cash corpus on the balance sheet is Rs 2700 crore.

Oyo has previously defined adjusted Ebitda as Ebitda being adjusted for transformation expenses made on assets of its hotel partners. Ebitda stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation and is a measure of a company’s core profitability.

People familiar with the matter said Agarwal told staffers during the town hall that this can be attributed to 'sustained growth' in India, Indonesia, the US and UK besides ‘relevant optimisations’ and ‘synergies’ in the European vacation homes market.

Oyo declined to comment on the matter.
“The company is taking measures to keep a healthy cash runaway and is continuing to operate in a cost effective way. We have a current cash balance of Rs 2700 crore and we hope we will end up consuming very little of it for existing operations,” Agarwal said during the town hall as per sources.

“Our cash flow has shown improvement and our reliance on external funds has gradually decreased overtime. Teams on the ground have ensured that hotels and home supply acquisition is on track and growing steadily. Together as a team, we are heading in the right direction, and I am confident that we will achieve our goals for the fiscal year 2024,” he added.

Oyo’s revenue for financial year 2023 is expected to be over Rs 5700 crore, up 19% from the Rs 4780 crore achieved in financial year 2022.

In January this year, the company told employees that its adjusted operating profit for the second half of FY23 is expected to rise to Rs 185 crore, potentially marking the company’s first full financial year of profitability under this metric.

The hospitality chain had reported an adjusted Ebitda of Rs 63 crore in the first half of this financial year, as per previous filings to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

As per the company’s last filing, employee expenses, net of share-based payment expenses constituted the largest component on the cost side, at 18% of the revenues, followed by marketing expenses at 14% and general and administrative expenses at 7% of the revenues for H1 FY23. In early December, the company had said it was downsizing staff and letting go of 600 employees from its employee base of 3,700 but was also hiring new employees.

The company had told employees in the January town hall that its overall Gross Booking Value (GBV) is expected to clock a 23% increase in financial year 2023 versus financial year 2022 to over Rs 9990 crore primarily led by the hotels business. Homes is the other storefronts segment for Oyo.

The company had said in the previous town hall that its overall operating cost is likely to reduce further by 13%, and that a tech-driven supply acquisition such as Oyo360 is expected to lead to a 15% rise in the number of hotels in the second half of this fiscal year compared to the first half.

Oyo announced last month that it plans to double the number of premium hotels in India in 2023. Its premium hotel brands include hotels such as Townhouse Oak, Oyo Townhouse, Collection O and Capital O.

Oyo plans to add approximately 1800 premium hotels this year. Oyo’s focus on premium hotels started in the last quarter of 2022 when it added over 400 new premium hotels between October to December.

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Oyo tells employees it expects nearly Rs 800 crore adjusted EBITDA in FY24 - The Economic Times
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First Citizens Bank to acquire SVB's deposits, loans from FDIC - The Economic Times

On Monday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) sold all deposits and loans of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank to First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company. The transaction has been structured as a whole bank purchase with loss share coverage.

The depositors of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, National Association, will automatically become depositors of First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company. "All deposits assumed by First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company will continue to be insured by the FDIC up to the insurance limit," the government corporation said in a press release.

The lender has around $109 billion in assets and total deposits of $89.4 billion. It will additionally receive an available line of credit from the FDIC for contingent liquidity purposes.

SVB had approximately $167 billion in total assets and about $119 billion in total deposits as of March 10, 2023. The transaction with First Citizens included purchasing about $72 billion of SVB NA's assets at a discount of $16.5 billion.

Approximately $90 billion in securities and other assets will remain in the receivership for disposition by the FDIC, the statement said.
In addition, the FDIC received equity appreciation rights in First Citizens BancShares, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina, common stock with a potential value of up to $500 million.

The FDIC estimates the cost of the failure of SVB to its Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) to be approximately $20 billion.

First Citizens Bank is a subsidiary of Raleigh-headquartered First Citizens BancShares, Inc.

The FDIC had tried to sell SVB Private alongside Silicon Valley Bank over the last two weekends but it failed to reach a deal to sell them both together. It has since asked for separate offers for SVB Private and Silicon Valley Bank by March 24.

Silicon Valley Bank became the biggest US lender to fail in more than a decade, unraveling in less than 48 hours after abandoning a plan to shore up capital. The bank took a huge loss on sales of its securities as interest rates climbed, unnerving investors and depositors who rapidly began pulling their money.

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First Citizens Bank to acquire SVB's deposits, loans from FDIC - The Economic Times
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Banking crisis, F&O expiry, FII flows to drive Indian equity markets this week | Mint - Mint

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty buckled under selling pressure in metal, energy and realty stocks for the second straight session to settle nearly 1 per cent lower on Friday.

"Nifty slipped below the crucial level of 16950 as the bears gained control of the market. Furthermore, the Nifty fell after a few days of consolidation, indicating an increase in bearish bets. The momentum indicator RSI is in bearish crossover," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

"The volatility in the market is expected to continue in the short term as the global banking system is yet to fully recover from the crisis, especially in Europe," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Below are the key factors that will keep traders busy this week:

Global markets

Global stock markets swooned on Friday as fears about contagion among banks hobbled shares of lenders such as Deutsche Bank, with the flight from risk shoring up the dollar and driving bond yields lower.

Deutsche, which had announced plans on Friday to redeem $1.5 billion of tier 2 debt not due to be repaid until 2028, slumped 8.5 per cent. For the month so far, Deutsche has shed 27.6 per cent.

The moves highlight just how frail sentiment remains after turmoil in the US and European banking sectors in the past two weeks have revived memories of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Traders have also priced in US rate cuts of about 90 bps basis points to about 3.9 per cent by the end of the year.

The Fed raised its main interest rate by a quarter point to a range of 4.5 per cent-4.75 per cent on Wednesday, but signalled it would consider a pause in light of banking system stresses.

Markets, however, are betting on a US recession and incoming rate cuts.

Derivatives expiry, FII flows

This week will see further increase in volatility due to monthly F&O expiry amidst the highest FII short position. Also, it would be a shortened trading week due to a holiday on Thursday.

“The coming week is a holiday-shortened one and we expect volatility to remain high due to the scheduled expiry of March month derivatives contracts. Besides, global cues, foreign flows and movement in crude could further add to the choppiness," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking.

“FIIs are on a selling spree and feeble global cues are further deteriorating the mood. Besides, we can see cracks across sectors and a fresh decline in the broader indices may further dampen the sentiment," Mishra said.

Corporate action

A host of companies have scheduled their board meeting this week for considering dividend payments, share buy back, and fundraising.

Hindustan Zinc, SBI Cards and Payment Services, Angel One, CRISIL, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries, and Indraprastha Gas will trade ex-dividend.

Meanwhile, Symphony, and Godawari Power & Ispat are going to turn ex-buyback next week.

HDFC's board will meet tomorrow to consider the issuance of unsecured redeemable NCDs.

The board of Vedanta will meet this week for approving a fifth interim dividend for the current fiscal. PNB Housing Finance's board will mull raising funds through the rights issue of shares.

Technical Observation

A long bear candle was formed on the daily Nifty chart, which indicates a sell on rise action in the market around 17200 levels. The recent swing high of 17207 could now be considered as a new lower top of the sequence and the market is on the way down to the new lower bottom - below 16800 levels in the near term, says Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

"The short term trend of Nifty continues to be weak. Immediate resistances are left unchallenged and strong supports have started to break on the downside one after another. One may expect Nifty to slide down to 16800-16700 levels by next week. On the upper side, the area of 17050 could be a crucial overhead resistance," he added.

"In the short term, the Nifty index may fall, with a potential drop to 16750. On the higher end, resistance is visible at 17200," Rupak De said.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Banking crisis, F&O expiry, FII flows to drive Indian equity markets this week | Mint - Mint
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Elon Musk puts $20 billion value on Twitter: report - The Economic Times

Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk has offered the social-media company's employees stock grants at a valuation of nearly $20 billion, the Information reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff.

The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion that Musk paid to acquire the social media platform, pointing to a drop in Twitter's value.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters' emailed request for a comment.

Musk said in December that Twitter is on track to be "roughly cash flow break-even" in 2023 as top advertisers slashed their spending on the social-media platform after the billionaire' s takeover.

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Elon Musk puts $20 billion value on Twitter: report - The Economic Times
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Over 23,000 techies lose jobs in nearly 82 Indian startups to date - Indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: As layoffs continue to deepen amid recession fears, more than 23,000 employees have been laid off by at least 82 startups in India, and the list is only growing, the media reported.
According to a report in Inc42, 19 edtech startups, including four unicorns, have alone sacked more than 8,460 employees to date.
The startups that lead the layoff tally include BYJU'S, Ola, OYO, Meesho, MPL, LivSpace, Innovaccer, Udaan, Unacademy and Vedantu, among others.
Home interiors and renovation platform Livspace this week laid off at least 100 employees as part of cost-cutting measures.
Last week, SaaS platform for online stores Dukaan laid off nearly 30 per cent of its workforce, or around 60 employees -- its second layoff in about six months.
Healthcare unicorn Pristyn Care has also sacked up to 350 employees across departments and impacted employees from sales, tech and product teams.
Online higher education company upGrad laid off nearly 30 per cent of its workforce at its subsidiary "Campus".
In February, end-to-end global delivery management platform FarEye laid off 90 employees, which was its second layoffs in about eight months amid the economic meltdown.
With the onset of January, more and more Indian startups are slashing jobs across the spectrum.
Social media company ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions.
The layoff impacted about 500 people at the company.

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Over 23,000 techies lose jobs in nearly 82 Indian startups to date - Indiatimes.com
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Over 23,000 techies lose jobs in nearly 82 Indian startups to date - Indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: As layoffs continue to deepen amid recession fears, more than 23,000 employees have been laid off by at least 82 startups in India, and the list is only growing, the media reported.
According to a report in Inc42, 19 edtech startups, including four unicorns, have alone sacked more than 8,460 employees to date.
The startups that lead the layoff tally include BYJU'S, Ola, OYO, Meesho, MPL, LivSpace, Innovaccer, Udaan, Unacademy and Vedantu, among others.
Home interiors and renovation platform Livspace this week laid off at least 100 employees as part of cost-cutting measures.
Last week, SaaS platform for online stores Dukaan laid off nearly 30 per cent of its workforce, or around 60 employees -- its second layoff in about six months.
Healthcare unicorn Pristyn Care has also sacked up to 350 employees across departments and impacted employees from sales, tech and product teams.
Online higher education company upGrad laid off nearly 30 per cent of its workforce at its subsidiary "Campus".
In February, end-to-end global delivery management platform FarEye laid off 90 employees, which was its second layoffs in about eight months amid the economic meltdown.
With the onset of January, more and more Indian startups are slashing jobs across the spectrum.
Social media company ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions.
The layoff impacted about 500 people at the company.

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Over 23,000 techies lose jobs in nearly 82 Indian startups to date - Indiatimes.com
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Who is Srikanth Venkatachari, Reliance's new chief financial officer? - Hindustan Times

ByHT News Desk, New Delhi

Mar 25, 2023 11:20 AM IST

Venkatachari's appointment will come into effect from June 1, with him taking over from Alok Agarwal, the CFO since 2005.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has appointed Srikanth Venkatachari as its new chief financial officer (CFO), with the appointment scheduled to come into effect from June 1. Venkatachari will succeed Alok Agarwal, the CFO since 2005, who has been made the senior advisor to Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Industries Limited (File Photo)

Also Read: Reliance Industries names Srikanth Venkatachari as new chief financial officer

Who is Srikanth Venkatachari?

(1.) According to CNBC TV18, Venkatachari joined Reliance 14 years ago. Currently, he is serving as the joint chief financial officer.

(2.) As joint CFO, he has been sharing a part of the responsibilities of the CFO position with Agarwal for the past few years, noted CNBC TV18.

(3.) Previously, he was with the Citi Group, where he worked for two decades in forex trading and derivates. He was later promoted to the head of markets.

(4.) In its press release, Reliance noted that Srikanth has ‘proven his mettle to carry forward the legacy of Agarwal, and to help script the company’s future chapters of growth.'

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  

  HT News Desk

  Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered.

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reliance industries ltd. mukesh ambani

reliance industries ltd. mukesh ambani

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Who is Srikanth Venkatachari, Reliance's new chief financial officer? - Hindustan Times
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RIL names V Srikanth as new CFO; veteran Alok Agarwal to become Senior Advisor to Chairman - Moneycontrol

Reliance Industries Limited announced the appointment of Venkatachari Srikanth, 56, as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on March 24. RIL’s long-serving CFO Alok Agarwal, who recently reached 65 years of age and completed 30 years with RIL, will move to the role of a Senior Advisor to the Chairman and Managing Director assisting him on a wide range of strategic issues. Both the new roles will come into effect from June 1, 2023, according to a stock exchange notification by RIL. V Srikanth ( joint CFO since 2011) has been sharing a part of the responsibilities of the CFO position with Alok Agarwal for the last few years. Srikanth has been with RIL for the last 14 years. Previously, he worked with the Citi Group for two decades in forex trading and derivatives, later becoming the Head of Markets. Alok Agarwal is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad. He joined Reliance Industries in 1993 and became the CFO in 2005. Prior to RIL, he had worked with Bank of America for 12 years. “The Board appreciated Shri Alok Agarwal for his contribution in the transformative journey of the Company,” the RIL exchange announcement added. THE ALOK AGARWAL ERA Agarwal played a key role in RIL’s multifold growth in the last 30 years. When he joined, Reliance had an annual turnover of Rs 4,100 crore with a balance sheet size of Rs 6,100 crore. Under his watch, the company grew nearly 240x in revenues. RIL became the first-ever Indian company to cross $100 billion in annual turnover in FY22 and has already clocked $90 billion turnover in the first 9 months of FY23. The Balance Sheet size grew 260x in the same period to over Rs 16.25 lakh crore by end of September 2022. Agarwal successfully managed one of India’s largest corporate treasury operations at Reliance over the years. This was quite a challenging task with multiple volatile factors to oversee like equities, debt, foreign currency exposures, crude oil and derivative prices, interest rates, business cycles etc. Under Agarwal’s leadership, Reliance went on to achieve many unique feats in the fields of capital markets and corporate finance: -Reliance became the first private sector company to be rated by international credit rating agencies such as S&P and Moody’s in 1995 -Reliance became one of the first Indian companies to dematerialize its shares in 1997 and issue bonus shares in demat form. -In 1997, RIL became the first company in Asia to issue 50-year and 100-year bonds in the US debt market. -In 2004, Reliance became the first Indian private sector company to enter Fortune 500 global ranking. -Reliance became India’s largest company by market capitalization in 2007. In mid-2020, Reliance became India’s first company to cross $200 billion market capitalization and enter the world’s top 40 companies by market value. -Reliance became India’s largest private sector company by net profits in FY15 -Reliance carried out the largest capital investment programme by any Indian corporate by investing Rs 330,000 crore in five years 2013-2017. -Reliance carried out two large multi-year capex cycles in the last 25 years. In 2005-2009 set up the second Jamnagar refinery complex and KG-D6, and then in 2013-2017 set up Jio and J3 projects, which included many world-class projects like Refinery Offgas Cracker, Ethane Imports, Petcoke Gasification, apart from petchem capacity expansions. Most importantly, after each large capex cycle RIL became net debt free – the first time in 2012-13, and then in 2020-21. Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

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RIL names V Srikanth as new CFO; veteran Alok Agarwal to become Senior Advisor to Chairman - Moneycontrol
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As Hindenburg shorts Block, 5 facts about Jack Dorsey's firm - Hindustan Times

ByRitu Maria Johny

Mar 23, 2023 09:10 PM IST

Know more about Block, Jack Dorsey's financial services company and the latest target of Hindenburg Research.

After a scathing report on billionaire Gautam Adani’s empire in January, which led to a stock rout in all 10 Adani-related companies, Hindenburg Research’s latest target is former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s digital payments company Block. The new report alleges that it found that Block’s Cash App was likely facilitating fraudsters taking advantage of government stimulus programmes during the pandemic. Block Inc. shares tumbled 20% to $58.31 at 9:46 am in New York, the company’s biggest intraday decline in three years, after Hindenburg Research said it’s betting on a decline in the stock.

Jack Dorsey's Block, which Hindenburg Research alleges misled investors with 'inflated metrics', was launched in 2009. (File)

Also read: Block shares slump 20% after Hindenburg shorts Jack Dorsey's payments firm

Amid the latest bombshell, which the company claims was published after a two-year investigation, a look at the Dorsey-led financial firm:

1. Previously known as Square, the firm was launched in 2009 as a credit card reader for vendors and customers that could be plugged into mobile phones. It also allowed tablet computers as a point-of-sale system to make payments.

2. Square Cash was launched as a competitor to mobile service payment company Venmo in 2013. It was later renamed as Cash App which customers could use to transfer funds. Square expanded further to offer short-term loans in 2014. In 2017, Square introduced Cash Card - a prepaid debit card that can be used outside the virtual wallet.

3. In 2018, Cash App allowed users to trade Bitcoin on the platform. The following year, the company added the feature of free stock trading.

4. After acquiring Australia’s Afterpay in 2021 for $30 billion, the company added Buy Now, Pay Later option. In December the same year, Square was rebranded as Block to reflect the financial service company’s broader cryptocurrency and blockchain aspirations.

5. In 2022, Dorsey renounced the CEO title opting for the name ‘Block Head’ instead. However, the role entails the same responsibilities. The company laws also removed the CEO and president position. As per a CNBC report, Block fell over 45% in 2022 amid spike in interest rates.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  

  Ritu Maria Johny

  Multimedia journalist with Hindustan Times. Covers India, world, business and tech news with a keen eye for human-interest stories rooted in gender and culture.

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As Hindenburg shorts Block, 5 facts about Jack Dorsey's firm - Hindustan Times
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India rejects Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to extend monopoly on lifesaving TB drug - The Hindu

In a victory for patients fighting for wider access to crucial anti-tuberculosis drug Bedaquiline, the Indian Patent Office on Thursday rejected U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) attempt to extend its monopoly on manufacturing the drug in India beyond July 2023.

J&J’s primary patents on Bedaquiline expire in July, paving the way for generic drug manufacturers such as Lupin and Macleods, among others, to produce Bedaquiline, thus ensuring cheaper and wider access to the drug. Currently, Bedaquiline tablets are priced at $400 per six-month treatment course.

Bedaquiline is a crucial drug in the treatment of multi-drug resistant TB patients for whom the first-line drug treatment — using Isoniazid, Rifampicin, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol — has stopped working.

Evergreening attempts

Since 2007, J&J had indulged in ‘evergreening’ — a strategy to extend the life of patents about to expire in order to retain revenues from them — by making multiple claims in its applications for patent extensions.

ALSO READ

The road to ending tuberculosis

When the company filed for evergreening of its patent on fumarate salt (a formulation salt of Bedaquiline), the practice was challenged by two TB survivors, Nandita Venkatesan and Phumeza Tisile. “We filed a patent challenge in 2019, because we wanted to ensure that safer, oral and efficacious drug Bedaquiline was available to all people who need it. Our attempt to break the monopoly of a pharma company over this life saving drug has been successful,” Ms. Venkatesan told The Hindu.

‘No inventive step’

J&J had sought a patent extension on the basis of its claim that it had invented the method for making a derivative of quinoline in its salt form. However, in her order passed on Thursday, Latika Dawara, Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs stated that the invention claimed was obvious and does not involve any inventive step, and is therefore non-patentable.

ALSO READ

India must fine-tune its strategy to eliminate Tuberculosis

Ms. Venkatesan and her team provided evidence that the preparation of water-soluble compounds through salt formation, which is used to prepare the drug Bedaquiline, has long been known to pharmaceutical manufacturer and is even cited in chapters of Remington’s Pharmaceutical Sciences and other common textbooks on the subject.

‘Commonly known’

Section 3(d) of the Patents Act states that salt forms and derivatives of known substances are not patentable. “The applicant cannot claim a patent on these methods and compositions of salt forms that have been known in scientific world for more than three decades,” the Patent Office order says.

The order further stated that the claims of J&J’s present application are liable to be rejected as the claimed compounds are mere admixtures, resulting in mere aggregation of properties and not a new invention under Section 3(e) of the Patents Act.

ALSO READ

The road to ending tuberculosis

Thousands to benefit

According to the latest available estimates, in 2019, over 55,000 patients who had developed multi-drug resistant TB could have benefited from access to Bedaquiline. As of March 2020, only a little over 10,000 of these patients had accessed the drug.

ALSO READ

Fighting tuberculosis | A survivor’s story

“It is high time that alternate manufacturers start supplying Bedaquiline at lower prices, especially as TB programmes around the world plan to scale-up the all-oral, shorter, six-month drug-resistant TB regimen,” said Leena Menghaney, Global Intellectual Property Advisor for Medecins Sans Frontiers’ Access Campaign. However, she noted that the good news is restricted to India for now, as J&J continues to hold the patent on Bedaquiline in other major markets such as South Africa, meaning that Indian generic manufacturers will be unable to export the drug there.

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• 

  TB survivors challenge patent to end J&J monopoly
• 

  WHO launches plan for cheaper TB drugs

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India rejects Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to extend monopoly on lifesaving TB drug - The Hindu
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